Table base



L. BENDER TABLE BASE April 22, 1969 Shae t ofS Original Filed March 15,1965 r HL-IBO wa INVENTOR LOUIS BENDEP ATTORNEYS.

April 22, 1969 L. BENDER 3,439,634

' TABLE BASE Original Filed March lS, 1965 Sheet 2 of 5 FIG. 4.

INVENTdR Y LOUIS BENDER ATTORNEYS.

L. BENDER TABLE BASE A r l 22, 1969 Sheet 3 or;

Original Filed March 15. 196 5 R E D J ms W5 ww L BY 1 M/ZM ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,439,634 TABLE BASE Louis Bender, Plainfield,N.J., assignor to Standard Plastic Products, Inc., South Plainfield,N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Original application Mar. 15, 1965,Ser. No. 439,901, now Patent No. 3,319,958, dated May 16, 1967. Dividedand this application Mar. 22, 1967, Ser. No. 625,194

Int. Cl. A47b 25/00, 19/00; B63d 15/00 U.S. Cl. 108-27 6 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE A table base which includes an upper planar part witha marginal edge portion that is upwardly extending and downwardlyconcave which is joined to a lower planar part with a marginal edgeportion that is downwardly extending and upwardly concave at theconfronting planar surfaces and the confronting marginal edges.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a divisionof copending US. application Ser. No. 439,901, filed by me on Mar. 15,1965, for Pool Table With Hollow Reinforcing Rim Constituting PocketConnected Ball Conveying Means, now Patent No. 3,319,958.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present inventionrelates to a light weight vacuum formed table base.

SUMMARY The table base is formed of two opposed vacuum formed sheets ofthermoplastic material. The upper sheet has a planar surface surroundedby an upwardly extending downwardly concave marginal edge portion. Thelower sheet has a planar surface and a downwardly extending upwardlyconcave marginal portion. The planar surfaces of the two opposed sheetsare in surface-to-surface relation and are connected as by adhesive. Theouter edges of the two concave marginal edge portions are alsoconnected.

Preferably, the lower planar surface is provided with longitudinallyextending reinforcing ridges and also, more preferably, withtransversely extending ridges as well.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pooltable embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the pool table of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the bottom half of the pool table base;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5--5 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a front end view of the pool table.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawingsin detail, and particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, the pool table embodyingthe present "ice invention is generally designated by the referencenumeral 10. Pool table 10 includes a base 12 and a foldable orcollapsible leg support structure 14. The base 12 is made of an upperportion 16 and a lower portion 18 which are joined together in a mannerto be described hereinafter. The leg support structure 14 consists oftwo pairs of interconnected legs one pair being designated by thereference numeral 20 and the other by the reference numeral 22. Leg pair20 includes two legs 24 and 26 which are integrally joined at their topsby a cross piece 148 (FIG. 3). Leg pair 22 includes two legs 28 and 30which are integrally joined at their tops by a cross piece 156. Legs 24and 26 are braced on each other by tie rods 32 and 34 and legs 28 and 30are braced on each other by tie rods 36 and 38. The manner of securingthe pairs of legs to the table base 12 will be described subsequently inthis specification.

As previously stated, the base 12 of pool table 10 comprises an upperportion 16 and lower portion 18. Both upper and lower portions 16 and 18are preferably vacuum formed from a suitable thermoplastic material suchas, for example, polymethyl methacrylate; vinyls such as polyvinylchloride, vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate copolymer;acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene plastics; styrene homopolymers andcopolymers; polyolefins such as polyethylene, polypropylene, all ofwhich may be filled or unfilled, and other suitable thermoplasticmaterials. The presently preferred material is styrene. Portions 16 and18 could be otherwise formed such as by injection molding. As seen inFIG. 2, the upper portion 16 is provided with a rectangular planarsurface portion 40 with an up wardly extending concave peripheralmarginal portion 42. The peripheral marginal portion 42 is formed by anupwardly vertically extending marginal wall 44 which is bent into ashort downwardly extending wall 46 that terminates in a horizontalsurface 48 of short extent that is integral with another upwardlyextending wall 50. The portions 46, 48 and 50 define a recess 52 forreceiving the bumper 54 to be described in greater detail hereinafter.The upwardly extending peripherally continuous wall 50 terminates at itsupper edge in an outwardly and downwardly extending surface 56 which atits lower edge (which is substantially coplanar with surface 40) isprovided with an outwardly bent peripherally continuous marginal flange58.

The lower base portion 18 includes a rectangular, horizontal surfaceportion 60 which is broken by a number of longitudinally extendingV-shaped grooves 62 which are vacuum formed in the bottom portion 18 asby providing two downwardly and inwardly extending groove wall portions64 and 66 which terminate in an integrally formed horizontal groovebottom 68. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, there are eight longitudinallyextending grooves 62 although any suitable number may be provided. Thepurpose of the longitudinally ext-ending grooves 62 in the bottomhorizontal surface 60 is to stiffen the bottom horizontal surface 60against flexure in the longitudinal direction. The horizontal surface 60is of substantially the same marginal extent as upper horizontal surface40 and is surrounded by a downwardly extending concave peripherallycontinuous marginal portion 61 of line width as top concave portion 42.Concave portion 61 includes a downwardly extending wall portion 70 whichcurves at its bottom into a horizontally extending track forming portion72. The left hand end of the track portion 72 as viewed in FIG. 2 isintegrally connected with a downwardly extending wall 74 which in turnis integrally connected with the outer wall 76 having at its upper edgean outwardly extending flange 78 in surface-to-surface relation with theflange 58. The downwardly extending portion 74 and the lower part of theouter wall 76 of bottom 18 form a skirt 80, the purpose of which is togive a uniform height to the entire base 12 of the pool tablenotwithstanding the fact that portion 72 of the base 18 slants from therear end of the table to the front. This slanted track is designated onone side of the central receiving portion or station 82 by the referencenumeral 84 and on the other side by the reference numeral 86.

As best seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, the central ball receiving recess orstation 82 is formed substantially wholly inthe bottom portion 18 ofbase 12 and has a base portion 88 and a rear wall portion 91 both ofwhich are formed integrally with the bottom 18. The base 88 is showndisposed below the bottom of the skirt 80 formed by the downwardlyextending wall portion 74 and the outer wall 76'. A large aperture 90 isprovided in the side wall 76 of the front 92 of the base 12, whichaperture 90 is adapted to permit the insertion of a players hand for theremoval of balls from ball receiving station 82. It will be seen thatthe ball tracks 84 and 86 are in direct communication with the centralball receiving station 82 and, as will be understood more fullyhereinafter, as balls move down the tracks 84 and 86 they will drop intothe central ball receiving station 82 (FIG. 4). As seen in FIG. 1, inthe top portion 16 of base 12, principally in the upwardly extendingmarginal concave portion 42, are six ball receiving apertures or pockets94, 96, 98, I100, 102 and 104, a small portion of each of which isprovided in the horizontal surface 40 of top portion 16. That part ofeach of the pockets 94 to 104, inclusive, which extend through themarginal concave portion 42 of top '16 are defined by arcuate verticallyextending walls 106, 108, 110, 112, 114 and 1116, respectively. Each ofthe apertures 94 to 104, when the base is assembled in the manner to bedescribed hereinafter, is in register with track 84 or 86 in the bottompart 18.

As is customary with all quality pool tables, cushions are providedalong the marginal wall 44 of the playing surface of the pool table topermit balls impinging against said marginal wall to bounce therefrom inaccordance with the play of the game. One of the .major problems thathas been encountered in previous inexpensive pool tables is that ofobtaining suflicient bounce or resiliency in the cushions. In accordancewith the present invention the cushions 54 are made of a suitable highlyresilient material such as rubber or neoprene or, preferably, ethylenecopolyrner in an extruded form having a substantially rectangular baseportion 118 with an inwardly directed horizontal portion 120 whichterminates in a downwardly curving lip 122 located to fend a ball 124off from the wall 44 and to impart to any ball impinging thereagainstsubstantial bounce. Of course, the cushion could be injection molded.The rectangularly cross sectioned base portion 118 is of slightly largertransverse dimension than the width of the bumper receiving cavity 52 sothat when it is forced into the cavity 52, it will remain so positionedby virtue of friction. That is, it is press-fitted into cavity or groove52. Of course, other means of securing the bumper to the table may beemployed such as adhesives, staples, screws, etc. Moreover, base portion1118 need not be solid as shown. It could be grooved if desired. Pocketdeflectors 107, 109, 111, 113, 115 and 117 may be provided at the upperedge of each of the arcuate downwardly extending wall portions 106 to116 respectively surrounding the pockets 94 to 104, respectively, whichdeflectors are shaped to deflect any ball impinging thereagainstdownwardly to insure that a ball being bit into a pocket will not bounceout of that pocket. To provide a suitable surface for the pool playing apiece of felt is glued to the upper surface of horizontal base portion40 and, preferably, to the upwardly extending vertical marginal wallportion 44. The felt surface is shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5 and isdesignated by the reference numeral 126.

To construct a pool table base 12 in accordance with the aforedescribedstructure, a sheet of suitable thermoplastic material is placed in amold for forming the top part 16, the sheet of thermoplastic material isheated and a vacuum is drawn to cause the upper part 16 to be formed aspreviously described. After cooling and removal from the mold, the sixapertures .94 to 104 defining the pockets are punched out of the sheet.Thereafter, the felt which has been precut to conform to the shape ofthe rectangular playing surface, as modified by the pockets 94 to 104,is laid over the surface which has been theretofore suitably coated withan adhesive and is accordingly glued to the top surface of horizontalsupport 40 and to the vertically extending marginal wall 44. Then thecushions 54 are placed between the pockets 94 and 96, 96 and 98, 98 and100, 100 and 102,1102 and 104, and 104 and 94 by pressing theirrectangular base portions 54 into the recess 52 in the concave part 42of the upper base portion 16. The arcuate downwardly acting deflectors107, 109, 111, 113, and 117 are similarly connected around theirassociated pockets.

In a parallel operation, the bottom part 18 of base 12 is also vacuumformed in a conventional manner from a thermoplastic sheet in accordancewith the aforedescribed construction. After removal from the vacuumforming mold, the aperture 90 in the central ball receiving station 82is punched or otherwise cut out of the front wall of the bottom part 18,that is, wall 92.

In accordance with the present invention the upper and lower parts \16and 18 are now joined. The joining of these two parts is accomplished bycoating the lower surface of horizontal portion 40 and, if desired, theupper surface of horizontal portion 60, with a suitable adhesive suchas, for example, epoxy, rubber resin contact cement, and so forth. Afterthe adhesive is applied to portion 40, the horizontal portion 60 ofbottom part 18 is pressed into adhering relation therewith, the twoparts being aligned so that their outwardly extending flanges 58 and 78are in register around the entire periphery of the table base 12. At thecompletion of the gluing step the top and bottom portions 16 and 18,respectively, are joined at their flanges 58 and 78 in any suitablefashion such as by adhesives or rivets or the like. Preferably, however,the joining of these two flanges is accomplished by means of staples128. After stapling of the flanges 58 and 78 around the entire marginalextent thereof is accomplished, a

resilient protector with a V-shaped cross section may be disposed aboutboth joined flanges to provide for protection and improved appearance.This V-shaped member is herein designated by the reference numeral 130.Of course, other means, such as metal channels, may be employed to coverthe connected flanges 58 and 78.

By providing two relatively thin plastic sheets in laminar adheringrelation, as is true of the parts 40 and 60 of the top and bottomportions 16 and 18 of base 12, and by surrounding these glued togethersurfaces by a hollow marginal box-like portion 132 [defined by theupwardly extending concave portion 42 of top 16 and the downwardlyextending concave portion 61 of the bottom 18 which portion 61 isdefined by the wall portions 70, 72', 74 and 76 previously described, aconstruction is achieved which yields great rigidity of the playingsurface of the pool table, notwithstanding the considerable flexibilityof the component parts. This rigidity is not materially weakened by theprovision of the apertures 94 to 104 for the pockets of the pool tablenor by the provision of the aperture 90 for the central ball receivingstation in the bottom of the base 12.

As previously noted, the pockets 94 to 104 register with the tracks 84and 86. It has also previously been stated that the tracks 84 and 86slope toward the central ball receiving station 82. That is, the tracks84 and 86 slope from the rear 134 of the table to the front 92 of thetable so that balls dropping into, for example, the pocket 100 will dropinto the track 86 which slopes toward the central ball receiving station82 whereby to cause the ball to roll down the track 86 and into saidball receiving station.

A suitable scoring means may be provided on the table 10. As shown inFIG. 5 the scoring means 125 are disposed at the front 92 on upwardlyextending concave portion 42. Scoring means 125 includes two rotatablediscs 127 with indicia 0 to 9 on each and an index means to indicate theappropriate numerical indicia. Other scoring means may be employed.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, in accordance with another feature of thepresent invention, the transverse rigidity of the base 12 can beincreased by the provision of several transversely extending grooves ina manner similar to the longitudinal grooves 62 previously described.The transverse grooves are here shown as four in number, and aredesignated by the reference numerals 136, 138, 140 and 142. It will beseen that grooves 136 and 138 are in the nature of a closely spaced pairwith an upwardly extending depression or recess 144 therebetween.Likewise, the grooves 140 and 142 are a closely spaced pair with arecess 146 therebetween. The recesses 144 and 146 may be employed as ameans for attaching the leg pairs 20 and 22 to the bottom of the base12. This is most conveniently effected by forming the legs 24 and 26 asthe vertically extending parts of integral U-shaped leg assembly 20having a horizontal part 148, which horizontal part 148 fits into thegroove 144 with some clearance and which is held in the groove forrotation as by two straps 150 and 152 both of which are connected to thebottoms of transverse grooves 136 and 138 by any suitable means such asby bent over upstruck portions, or rivets or the like. Such connectingmeans is designated by the reference numeral 154. Likewise, the legs 28and 30 are vertically extending parts of a U-shaped leg assembly 22 inwhich the horizontal portion is designated by the reference numeral 156which horizontal part is received with some clearance inside of thespace 146 between the two transverse grooves 140 and 142. Suitable strapmeans 158 and 160 overlie the horizontal portion 156 of the U-shaped legassembly to hold the horizontal part 156 in the recess 146 for rotationtherein. The straps are connected by means 154 previously described.

It will be seen that the two leg assemblies are pivotally mounted on thebase 12 of the pool table. This provides for a complete collapse of thepool table if desired. However, when "the pool table is to be in useablecondition with the legs in the condition shown in FIG. 1, means must beprovided to releasably hold the two leg assemblies in such condition.These means are angularly extending rods 162, 164, 166 and 168 which arepivotally connected respectively to the legs 24, 26, 28 and 30. The freeends of each of the rods 162 to 168 are provided with transverselyinturned portions 170 which are adapted to fit into apertures 172 in thevertically extending part of angle brackets 174 secured to the bottomsurface of horizontal portion 60 0f the bottom part 18 of base 12. Asshown herein the means for securing the angle brackets 174 are rivets176 although, clearly, other securing means of the rods themselves. Withthe in bent end portions so disposed in the apertures 172 the legs areheld in fixed vertical position. When, however, it is desired to put thetable away, as in a closet or the like, all that need be done is to flexthe inturned end portions of the rods 162 to 168 out of the apertures172 of the angle brackets 174 thereby unlocking the legs and permittingthe folding of the legs into substantial surface-to-surface relationwith the bottom of base 12. It should be noted that in accordance withthe presently preferred construction, each of the legs 24 to 30inclusive is provided with an adjustable foot 178 which is threadedlymounted in a suitable fixture 180 pressed into the bottom of each of thelegs. By providing the adjustable feet 178 good leveling can be achievedfor the playing surface of the table.

Of course, if desired, the leg assembly 14 can be completely deletedwithout departing from the present invention. That is to say, the base12 can be employed by itself as on a suitable support such as a kitchentable or the like.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have devised anovel pool table which is comprised mainly of two thin sheets ofrelatively flexible thermoplastic material which have been vacuumformed. When the vacuum formed sheets are joined together, they form acentral planar support surface and a box-like marginal portionsurrounding the support surface. The assembled structure is extremelyrigid and substantially nonwarping. This construction is inexpensive tofabricate and extremely light weight thereby making it readily portableor storable. In addition, I have provided a new and improved cushion fora pool table, which bumper gives substantial bounce due to its specialli-p construction. Further, I have provided means for stiffening mytable construction by providing longitudinal ridges and transverseridges, the latter of which also provide means for mounting folding legsthereon. All of these features are accomplished with a minimum of laborand materials in an inexpensive fashion to yield a very low cost, lightweight, readily rotatable, readily storable pool table.

While I have shown and described the preferred form of the presentinvention and have suggested modifications therein, other changes andmodifications may be made therein within the scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A table base, comprising an upper portion and a lower portion, saidupper portion comprising a horizontal planar part surrounded by an uppermarginal portion, said lower portion comprising a lower horizontalplanar part surrounded by a lower marginal portion, the outer peripheralextent and shape of said upper and lower marginal portions beingsubstantialy the same, at least one of said marginal portions having asubstantially continuous concavity extending away from the othermarginal portion, means for connecting said horizontal parts to oneanother, and means for connecting said outer peripheries of saidmarginal portions to one another in surface-to-surface relation.

2. The table base of claim 1, wherein the recited parts of said upperportion are integrally formed, and the recited parts of said lowerportion are integrally formed.

3. The table base of claim 1, wherein said upper marginal portion isshaped upwardly concave and said lower marginal portion is shapeddownwardly concave.

4. The table base of claim 3, in which said horizontal portions are inclose confronting relation, and the means for connecting said horizontalportions is adhesive, and the means for connecting the outer peripheriesof said marginal portions in surface-to-surface relation is distributedalong said outer periphery.

5. A table base, comprising an upper portion and a lower portion, saidupper portion comprising a horizontal planar part surrounded by amarginal portion, said lower portion comprising a lower horizontalplanar part sur- 7 rounded by a lower marginal portion, the outerperipheral extent and shape of said upper and lower marginal portionsbeing substantially the same, at least one of said marginal portionshaving a substantially continuous concavity extending away from theother marginal portion, means for connecting said horizontal parts toone another, and means for connecting said outer peripheries of saidmarginal portions to one another, said lower horizontal planar parthaving a plurality of depending longitudinally extending ridges.

6. The table base of claim 5, wherein said lower horizontal planar partis further provided with a plurality of transversely extending ridges.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Correale et a1 273-11 Allinger273-11 Bishop 273-6 X Proust 273-3 McCool 273-11 Allman 273-7 Santiage273-9 X BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

G. O. FINCH, Assistant Examiner.

@33 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No.3,439,634 Dated April 22, 1969 Inventor(s) L. Bender It is certifiedthat error appears in the above-identified patent and that said LettersPatent are hereby corrected as shown below:

[ Column 6, line 74, "a marginal" should read an upper v marginal SlGNEDANU SEALED OCT 21 1969 (SEAL) Attest:

WILLIAM E. BOHUYLER, JR. Edward M-jig Ir Gonmissionezo1 Pat-antsAttesting oer

